The Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom is a dark ride through a old, abandoned estate haunted by 999 happy haunts. Your Doom Buggy will carry you through 15 rooms as your ghostly tour guide points out the haunts along the way. And at the end of your tour, 3 happy haunts might just hitch a ride with you for a way out of the mansion. Little ones beware, this ride is dark and somewhat scary for the youngest members of your party. My kids were finally brave enough to ride this attraction when they were over the age of 6.
Length of Ride: 7:30
Height Requirement: None
Scare Factor: Very scary for small children. This is a dark ride that is haunted. My kids were scared until they were about 6.
Rider Switch (for small kids): No.
Weather Procedure: Located indoors
Ride Photo: Yes, automatically added to your MagicBand.
Flash Photography: Forbidden.
Queue: It winds through a graveyard. Be sure to read the names on the tombstones.
Extra Magic Hours: Open for the Evening Magic Hours
Fastpass: Part of Fastpass+
When to Ride: Before lunch or after dinner.
Our Touring Strategy: We usually ride this around 10-10:30 in the morning.
Secrets/Tips and Tricks:
- Check out the top of Haunted Mansion, they resemble chess pieces.
- At night, look at the top story window above the entrance. After a while, you might just notice a shadow pass that resembles 2 people with lanterns.
- The organ music you hear in the stretching room is actually Grim Grinning Ghosts slowed way down. It is the only song you hear in the entire ride and it gets faster as the ride progresses.
- Stand near the painting of the lady with the parasol (this is actually Master Gracey’s first wife who was lured to her death by Madame Leota) to be the first ones out of the room.
- Or you can wait for everyone to exit and then you’ll hear someone whisper at you to get out.
- In the attic of Haunted Mansion, all of the paintings are of Constance, the very bride you see at the end of the trip through the attic. Each painting shows her marrying up and is displayed with more lavish wedding gifts. Notice she is in the same dress in every picture.
- Look for a Hidden Mickey on the dining room table.
- Look for the Hidden Donald on the back of red velvet chairs in the hallway.
- When your hearse tips backwards, you are actually falling out of the attic window and you die. You’ll notice the ghosts don’t acknowledge your presence until this happens.
- The piano player in the Music Room is invisible but you can see his moving shadow on the floor.
- There is a Hidden Tinker Bell in a pane of broken glass over a coffin.
- Look for Mr Toad in the graveyard near the exit.
- Look for the hearse that is being drawn by an invisible horse. Notice his hoof prints located on the ground. This horse is named “Old Glue” or Elmer”. The hearse is the same one used in John Wayne’s movie The Sons of Katie Elder.
- If you listen for a moment, you might just hear the ghost horse whiny.
- Ride at night when your eyes are naturally dilated more. You’ll see more details than you will notice during the day.
Check out the tips and secrets for Hall of Presidents.
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If you look up at the ceiling in the portrait room when the Lightning hits you can see the body of Master Gracey who’s just hung himself from the ceiling!
When it was my 10th birthday we went to Disneyland. My mom and I went for my birthday. We got stuck in the ballroom for 20 minutes straight. All we could hear was the gunshots of the two guys. It was so annoying. It was so crowded we were stuck there in the HM for about 25-30 minutes. Its a story I always tell.
I love your blog! I’ve been on this ride at least a hundred times and your article has me excited for my November trip! Awesome info!
Don’t know how many people know this but the Haunted Mansion was model after an actually Victorian Home in Jim Troupe, PA. The house still stands today as a bed and breakfast, the last time I was there.
I am not sure if it has been mentioned, but the ride does in fact offer rider switch
10/10/15 My husband and I used to visit Walt Disney World very often. One trip, we were amazed at the sound effects inside The Haunted Mansion! It actually sounded like a real thunderstorm; heavy rain with thunder and lightning. Great sound effects. It turned out to be an actual storm…everyone exiting the ride ran into a wall of guests not moving. The lightning had us all fearful to venture pAst the metal trellis outside! YIKES!
That would be a little scary!
You may want to verify this, but I believe both a ride photo and video is not part of this ride. I think you have to have the Magic+ wrist bands.
When you enter the room with the paintings at the beginning before you get on your doom buggy, look up after the lightning and the lights go out: there’s a woman swinging from the rafters. Then the lights go out again and you hear her scream and fall to the ground. Probably the spookiest part of the ride!
Oh my gosh I love the Haunted Mansion!!! My two favorite rides are POTC and the Haunted Mansion! My only wish is that I wish WDW will add a Hatbox Ghost, because he is the most mysterious and memorable character!! I’ve already got my Halloween costume finished(I’m the Hatbox Ghost!), but all I need is some tickets to “Mickey’s “Not-So-Scary” Halloween Party!
That’s Master Gracey, not a woman.
On the ground, in the line, there is a wedding ring in the cement that once belonged to the bride! :)
The 1st year we went, my youngest daughter was 8yrs old and was scared to death,cried the whole time through. The 2nd year she rode it with her head in her lap and never looked up but didn’t cry. 3rd year started getting use to it and rides through with out any trouble. Hope to be back on it in Sept.
We took our son on it when he was 2, he slept the entire time (even through the scream before you are even on the ride). He will be 4 when we go back next May, I can’t wait to see his reaction AWAKE.
Also, I lost my cell phone on this ride (I stood up and didnt realize it was on my lap) and the wonderful maintenance people retrieved it from under one of the moving cars and returned it to us 48 hours later. Crisis averted.
Thanks for these, one or two I did not know and this is my all time favorite MK ride! Cannot wait to take my superhero grandson on this ride; he is not quite “ready” yet but loves to talk about it lol
Sandra
The Adored Home
My granddaughter rode it at 3 and was fine, but earlier in the visit she cried riding Pooh!!! Apparently she didn’t understand it would be dark. After that we talked about it and had no problems. We went with the funny spooky idea too. She’s 11 now and we still tease her about Pooh. Her favorites now are RnRC and ToT.
same for my daughter. she also did not like the Cinderella ride
What is a Cinderella ride?
My kids were 18 months and 3 1/2 when they went on it the first time. My 3 1/2 year old loved it and my 18 month old slept through it, lol. When we go next week, they’ll be 3 and almost 5. We’ll see how they do this time!!!
This is ride numero uno on my “to see” list. It’s #3 on my 4 year olds, because she super duper wants to see Jack Skellington (which vastly limits the time of year we can go). My 2 year old likes Jack too, so I’m super hopeful they’ll enjoy it more than be scared — but it does bum me out a little I won’t catch Haunted Mansion in its original state until our next-next trip. Thanks for all the tips, guys! My 4yo has SPD but LOVES a good scavenger hunt, so it’s not to have pointers on things to keep her attention.
My son has ridden this ride since he was 18 months old and has never really been scared of it. It doesn’t like the hitchhiking ghost at the end though. One trick if possible, if you have 3 people in your doombuggy, then there is no room for the ghost, so he will ride on top. At leas this is what we have experienced, and my son likes that much better.
Really? that was my kids favorite part
My kids went on it when they were 1 and 3 and again 2 and 4 and both times they really liked it! Both are also afraid of the dark, LoL
There are 6 hidden Jack Scellington’s, 3 hidden Donald’s, &2 hidden Mickey’s. The pets in the pet graveyard are actually sculpted to represent the pets that imagineer had as a child. While yes, the music playing is Grim.Grinning Ghosts, the sheet music on the piano is for Jack’s Lament in The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Is a the jack skellington stuff in Orlando too or just Cali?
Only California does the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. It is amazing.
There is a hidden Ursula in the dining room scene; it is similar to the hidden Donald that is in the hallway. The hidden Ursula is on the rocking chair that the old woman is sitting in. She is difficult to see, but it’s pretty cool!! :)
Constance starts off with one strand of pearls and adds one each time she marries.
My daughter begged and begged to do this ride…which was right before her fourth birthday. I was pretty surprised about it, but I went ahead and took her on it after I had explained what she would be seeing. I just told her that it was “spooky funny” and made it very light. She laughed throughout the ride and loved the effects. We had to then ride it two more times! To this day, she still says that it is so spooky funny, so I guess that approach made it much less scary for a little kid.
My kids too. I think my son was 2 and my daughter was almost 4. They are 18 months apart. We ended up riding this ride twice. We are going again this Sunday
My daughter just turned 3 when we took her to Tokyo Disney Resort. She begged for this ride every day we were there. She’d wake up and say she wanted to see ghosteses and pirates. We actually met Captain Jack Sparrow while we were there. He held her hand and walked around with her. I’ll always remember how she loved these rides the most. When I was her she PoC scared me!
See if you can spot the raven, his name is Lucifer. He can be seen in almost every scene.